‘407 
PARLIAMENTARY PUBLICATIONS. 
report of the Commissioners of National Education tm 
Treland, 1899-1900 [Cd@. 285]. Price ad. 
The Commissioners, in reporting as to the position ot 
agricultural education, state that 80,472 pupils were 
examined in agriculture in the ordinary national schools in 
Ireland, and that 53,297 passed. Instruction in the theory of 
agriculture, for which ordinary results fees are payable, is 
compulsory in the 4th, 5th, and 6th classes in all rural schools 
conducted by masters in Ireland; but it is optional in the 
case of girls’ schools where the teacher is qualitied to give 
instruction. 
There were 38 school farms in connection with national 
schools in 1899. The boys in the advanced classes in these 
schools are examined in the practice as well as the theory of 
agriculture, and special fees are paid on the proficiency of 
the pupils,and on the satisfactory state of the farm. The 
total number of pupils examined in practical agriculture was 
690, of whom 590 passed. In 32 of these schools payments 
were made to the pupils of agricultural classes for working on 
thesmall farms or gardens, under thedirection of the teachers, 
assisted by agricultural monitors. There were 116 schools 
with gardens attached, for the management of which, and for 
the practical knowledge displayed by the pupils, special fees 
are also granted. 
The number of students of all classes attending the Albert 
Agricultural Institution at Glasnevin in 1898-9 was 377. 
All the pupils of the Institution, male and female, received 
